


it's easier for you to let me go

by welcometothehumanrace



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: 5+1 Things, Angst, But only a little, Fluff, M/M, Mostly Fluff, Mutual Pining, Pining Keith (Voltron), more tags eventually maybe?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-26
Updated: 2017-07-15
Packaged: 2018-11-19 06:44:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11307897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/welcometothehumanrace/pseuds/welcometothehumanrace
Summary: Keith did not think Lance's arms were anything to get excited about. Or his shoulders. Or any general part of him. Just everything about him was unexciting as a whole.Obviously._Or 5 times Lance put his arms around Keith and the one time Keith really wanted him to.





	1. 1

**Author's Note:**

> wow, so first story in a very long time AND the very first story in this fandom. inspiration and title and lyrics quoted in each chapter are from 'arms' by Christina Perri because that's been my go to song for my ships for years. so credit to her, mucho thanks~
> 
> anyway, enjoy the story!

Keith was well aware that Lance was a touchy person.

Between the way he would lift an always protesting Pidge whenever he was excited about some new planet to how he’d rest his head on Shiro’s shoulder when he was especially tired, Lance never failed to go a day without touching each member of the team at least once. This was true even with his so-called “rival”. And even though their physical interactions initially revolved around shoving him, Keith was pretty sure the guy couldn’t have kept his hands to himself if he tried.

Which is why Keith was determined not to read into it when the shoves turned into arms thrown over shoulders or hands grabbing wrists as Lanced dragged him down a corridor. Or even when it was followed with a smile that seemed almost fond. Because that was just Lance, all around touchy guy. It didn’t mean something that he wasn’t shoving Keith around anymore. If anything, that just meant Keith was at the same level to Lance as everyone else. Those were the thoughts Keith had been repeating to himself since the shift in Lance’s behavior had begun.

And it was nights like these that it paid off.

“Yeah, these kinds of environments just fuel him.”

Keith jolted, but refrained from full on jumping at Hunk’s sudden presence. He also pointedly ignored his comment because that would mean acknowledging that his attention was currently on Lance. But although he made no motion to respond, he could see Hunk was right.

Team Voltron had been thrown many a celebration as they rescued groups and liberated planets. Some were formal affairs which meant that after an often-grueling battle against the Galra, the team had to go back to the castle, shower, groom, and dress in whatever attire was deemed appropriate by their host planet for a grand celebration. And while Keith was definitely not ungrateful for the thanks given by these planets, he couldn’t help but find himself more comfortable at the more spur of the moment festivities—like the one thrown by this planet. And evidently Lance felt the same.

Because really it wasn’t even like Keith was  _trying_  to pick him out from the crowd. With his long limbs flailing whichever way, grabbing random aliens to take pictures with on his phone (and really Lance, that's what you do with your limited battery life on your phone), and boisterous laugh ringing above the upbeat music of the party, there was no way anyone  _wouldn’t_  have noticed Lance. And as he grabbed another alien, this time sweeping them up in a dance that in no way matched the rhythm of the song, Keith could understand why Lance would enjoy this to the more contained balls held in their honor.

“—chance for him to let loose without worrying about certain customs,” Hunk continued, though Keith had just noticed that he begun talking again. Wincing in guilt, he glanced up at Hunk before his gaze settled back to Lance, his arm slung across a completely different alien then it was before not even five minutes ago. Not that Keith was counting. 

“Yeah, he’s certainly not worried about any customs right now,” Keith grumbled, forgetting his whole plan to pretend he didn’t know what—or better  _who_ —Hunk was talking about. Which was honestly futile from the start, so it's not like it even mattered.

And yes, he was very grateful at his foresight not to take Lance’s more kind treatment to heart. Because it obviously had nothing to with Keith himself, as Lance’s behavior proved. This whole night, Keith had seen Lance dance with every other person he’d encountered. Not that it _bothered_ Keith. He just felt need to note it so that his reservations about Lance’s changes were justified.

“Well, can you blame him,” Hunk replied with a shrug, making sure not to upend the plate of food he was holding. “How often do we get to just be, ya know?”

And looking at Lance, laughter unrestrained and body in constant motion, Keith did know. Because he definitely related. And though his way of "just being," as Hunk put it, was quieter than Lance's, it didn't make it any easier to do when the threat of the Galra, the fate of the universe, and their own quite likely death was constantly hanging in the back of the minds of the Paladins. So moments like this, after an invigorating victory and still on the adrenaline rush that came with kicking Galra ass, were the few times when those heavy thoughts weren't dragging the team down. And this was the most carefree the team had been in a long time. 

"No," Keith said softly, glare lessening as Lance’s movements grew even more reckless. “I guess not.”

“And no one would blame you either for joining him out there,” Hunk said, the cookie-like food he had just stuffed into his mouth doing nothing to hide his smile. Keith's head whipped back to Hunk, eyes wide and mouth gaping.

"Why would I do that!" Keith nearly shouted, and yeah maybe his reply was a little too loud and a little too fast but he was serious. Sure, while he might fancy with the idea of Lance coming over and keeping him company, dancing was completely out of the question. The only reason his face was currently heating up was because Hunk spoke like he knew about this new dynamic between him and Lance, which wasn’t okay.

Even if he denied the special in their new bond, he didn’t deny that they were a lot more amicable towards each other. And since there was no longer a threat of a screaming match whenever they were with each toher, they had been hanging out more than before. A lot more. Which was fine, it was cool, whatever. But he always got defensive (if that was even the right word) whenever any of the paladins mentioned it.

Because they always said like it _meant_ something.

"Well, Lance looks like he could give you a few reasons."

And then suddenly Lance was there in front of him, face also flushed but Keith doubted that the red painting his face was as attractive as the pink spread across Lance’s cheeks. Which was truly completely unfair.

“Hey there mullet, what are you doing all on your lonesome?”

And suddenly his embarrassment was replaced with indignation.

“First of all the, from all the nicknames you’ve given, you know I hate that one the most,” Keith replied, eyes narrowing as he poked at Lance’s chest. “And second of all, I’m not alone, Hunk’s right—“

And Keith cut off because as he turned to where Hunk was literally  _just_  standing, there was nothing but empty air. Of course.

“You were saying,” Lance said, smirk spreading across his lips.

“Fuck you,” Keith replied because honestly, he blamed Lance for this. If Lance hadn’t decided, for whatever most likely stupid reason, to make his way over to Keith, he wouldn’t have worry about looking like an idiot, or his rapidly, reddening face, or his gaze dipping to Lance’s—

Yeah, fuck Lance.

“I’m just messing around,” Lance laughed, his smile turning slightly less smug. Slightly. “I’m really over here just to get you to dance with me.”

Oh.

That was the stupid reason he was here.

Enlightening.

“No.”

And Keith couldn’t help the laugh that escaped him at how quickly Lance’s face dropped from haughty to distraught.

“I really don’t know what you were expecting,” he continued once he had himself back under control. “When have you ever seen me dance?”

“Which is exactly why this is the place to start!” Lance exclaimed. “This is the most chill celebration we’ve ever been to, and literally no one will care how ridiculous you’ll look!”

“Why are you so convinced I’m going to look ridiculous,” Keith demanded, despite the fact that Lance was completely right. But the asshole had no evidence for it, so Keith wasn’t going to let it go unchallenged.

“Why else would you be the only person on the team who’s never come close to the dance floor?”

“Pidge,” Keith said, knowing for a fact that the Green Paladin had never stepped foot on a dance floor because they were the one usually keeping him company.

“Is doing an amazing attempt at the Macarena,” Lance replied easily, smirking as his eyes trailed to his right. And with Keith’s own eyes, he witnessed Pidge out on the dancefloor with Allura and some other natives doing some sort line dance that did vaguely resemble the Macarena. It probably would have looked less ridiculous if it wasn’t for the fact that only a third of the dance floor was following the pre-described moves while the rest were still doing their own thing.

Never had betrayal stung so raw.

“So…”

At the sound of Lance’s voice, Keith returned his gaze to him. Only to immediately regret.

Lance was much closer now, smile much too blinding and eyes much too blue to be viewed at such proximity. And Keith was torn equally by the urge to take a step back and the want to take that final step forward.

“You gonna dance with me or not?”

Still caught up in his inner dilemma, Keith hesitated, and that was all Lance needed. Suddenly Keith was being pulled by the wrist, exactly like how he saw Lance pull countless other aliens that same night.

There we go. Remember that. Remember that Lance was just excited and happy and touchy and just wanted to dance with anyone and everyone and would probably pull away after one song-

And then Keith was being jolted again, this time into Lance’s chest. He placed his hands on Lance’s chest to push his face up and then he froze. He froze and remained frozen as Lance wrapped his arms around Keith and began swaying them slightly to the now much more mellow beat of the current song.

“Man, I thought you were bad at dance, not completely incapable of it.”

And that jolted Keith straight out of the embarrassing malfunctioning of his brain.

“I’m not incapable,” Keith bit out. “I just didn’t expect…”

And Keith couldn’t really put into words what was happening right now. Mostly because it was so odd. Every other person he’d seen Lance dance with, Lance had been holding them arm’s length apart, practically spinning them off the grown. This was different. And closer. And a little awkward. Though it wasn’t really Lance’s fault that Keith was practically a statue.

Exhaling, Keith furrowed his brow and tried to figure out what to do with his hands. Lance had caged his arms around Keith's waist which left Keith with little options as to what to do with his hands currently placed on Lance’s chest.

(He steadfastly ignored the thought that if he stepped back and out of Lance’s arms he’d probably have more options and ideas as to do with his hands. It was irrelevant.)

Contrary to belief, Keith wasn’t impulsive with everything. He was impulsive on things his instincts could be trusted on. And while it was true he liked to think he could trust his instincts with just about everything, there were certain areas they tended to fail him.

Like dancing.

And Lance.

And dancing with Lance.

Because right now his instincts were saying screw the dancing and use the proximity to pull Lance down and do things that were probably inappropriate no matter how casual the party atmosphere. So no to instincts.

And on to the matter of his hands.

There was no way he was keeping them on Lance’s chest, because beyond it being awkward, he could also feel Lance's racing heartbeat. And although he knew Lance was feeding off the night’s energy and his heart was probably beating so fast because of the rush of the evening, Keith couldn’t help but think what if it was because of him? And those were thoughts too dangerous to have.

He thought, fleetingly, of wrapping his arms around Lance’s neck, maybe even running letting his fingers through his short hair. But the moment he actually visualized such an intimate position, he immediately revoked the idea. He could barely handle this, there was no way he was upping the ante.

Steeling his nerves, he slowly, as to both not startle Lance and to give himself time to chicken out, inched his hands up Lance’s chest until they reached his shoulders. Stopping them there, he curved his hands so the they were holding his shoulders lightly. Pleased, he smiled proudly at the position. Not so close that Keith had to worry about combusting, but close enough that he got to enjoy Lance’s proximity.

For team bonding purposes.

Satisfied, Keith looked up at Lance, ready to come up with an insult in response to his earlier one when he saw Lance biting his lip, looking very close to laughing. Distracted by that, he didn't notice how quite red Lance's face was.

“What!” Keith demanded, immediately self-conscious. Was there some forbidden shoulder rule he didn’t know about? Was that the reason middle schools were so adamantly against them?

“Nothing!” Lance insisted, but that Keith was barely able to understand him through all his laughing was not encouraging. As if sensing Keith tensing up, Lance managed to calm down.

“No it’s really nothing,” he repeated. “You just kinda glared at your hands for a solid 30 seconds before looking so damn proud when you put them on my shoulders.”

Keith felt his face heat up as Lance let a few more chuckles loose. He silently begged the ground beneath him to swallow him whole. Actually fuck that, the ground could swallow Lance and Keith would be the laughing as Lance shrieked and inevitably begged Keith to—

“It was pretty cute.”

And this is why Keith couldn’t stand Lance. Because this  _idiot_  did things like this-laughing at Keith and then saying something so contradictory that Keith didn’t know how to respond or feel. And that really shouldn’t work for Keith. Lance shouldn’t be the type to actually make Keith’s face flush, or heart speed, or breath catch because that’s ridiculous. It’s  _Lance._

So he punched him in his ridiculous shoulder.

“Shut up,” Keith grumbled in response to Lance’s exaggerated wails, ducking his head so Lance couldn’t see the beginnings of his smile. “This isn’t something I do often. You said so yourself.”

“Hmmm, yeah,” Lance said, voice going softer than it’d been the whole night. “But you catch on fast.”

“Not much to catch on to,” Keith smirked, lifting his head to look up at Lance again. “We’re barely even moving. What happened to the dance moves I saw from you earlier?”

And the moment he said it he regretted it. Because Keith saw Lance’s eyes light up and knew he was about to be called out on having watched Lance throughout the night. He averted his eyes, bracing himself for the teasing he knew was coming. Instead, he nearly jolted when he felt Lance rest his chin on top of his head.

“The quiet moments are nice too.”

And Keith knew that Lance didn’t say that because he inherently thought it was true. He’d heard Lance complain countless times about how much a detested the quiet. But Keith on the other hand…

Letting out a quiet sigh, he let himself smile, knowing Lance couldn’t see it.

Yeah, they really were.

-

_“I never thought that you would be the one to hold my heart  
But you came around and you knocked me off the ground from the start”_


	2. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Guess who?”
> 
> Keith huffed, willing himself not to outright laugh at the ridiculous voice Lance used. As if that would be enough to stop Keith from recognizing him.
> 
> “A cargo pilot.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks everyone for the comments and kudos! they're so sweet and really motivate me
> 
> i definitely like this chapter better, to the point i kinda wanna edit the first one? maybe? idk, but ill definitely finish the story first before going back and editing
> 
> anyway, here's the next chapter!

Keith felt the air rush out of him as his back hit the mat of the training room floor. 

“You doing okay?” Shiro asked, offering his hand to help Keith up.

“As okay as I was the last six times you did that,” Keith grunted, refusing to put a hand up to rub at this shoulder. No matter how much it ached.

“That’s not quite what I meant,” he replied, eyebrows furrowed in concern. “You don’t seem to be all here.”

“Why, because you’ve managed to kick my ass?” Keith said, eyebrows quirked. “Not sure where you’ve been, but that’s pretty common when we train together.”

“No,” called out Pidge from across the room, eyes not leaving the device they were tinkering with. “Because he managed to kick your ass six times in under 15 minutes.”

“Pidge!” Shiro exclaimed, head snapping in their direction. “Language!”

“I’m just repeating what Keith said!”

“You’re such a snitch!”

“How am I a snitch? You literally just said it in front of Shiro not even a minute ago!”

“Language to both of you then,” Shiro interrupted, looking up at the ceiling clearly exasperated. He turned his gaze back to Keith, who had definitely not just been sticking his tongue out at Pidge.

“Regardless of how they said it,” he started, and Keith fought the urge to roll his eyes as Shiro’s lecture voice started creeping in. “They’re right. It isn’t like you to go down without a fight.”

Keith narrowed his eyes at Shiro’s slight smirk, knowing he was egging him on purpose. Didn’t stop him from wanting to prove him wrong.

“I’m fine,” Keith ground out. “I can prove it to you right now.”

“Really?” Shiro said, raising an eyebrow. “Fine. You last longer than three minutes against me and I’ll leave it alone.”

“I’ll keep time,” Pidge shouted, eyes still concentrated on their device.

“Deal,” Keith replied, chin up and arms crossed. He had this. He’d lasted much longer than three minutes sparring against Shiro and he’d do it again.

When his back met the mat again, Keith didn’t need to hear Pidge calling out 2 minutes and 3 seconds to know he’d had his ass handed to him. _Again._

Groaning, he brought both hands up to his face, trying to drown out Pidge’s laughter. Evil little gremlin.

Ugh, he was even using his stupid _phrases._

“So,” Shiro started as he settled next to Keith, legs crossing under him. “Do you know what this is about or do we need to do an emotional dialysis?”

Keith lowered his hands from his face to glance over at Pidge, who had subtly put their headphones on as they continued their work. He smiled softly, grateful for their understanding.

“No,” Keith said, glancing at Shiro before settling his gaze onto the ceiling. “I know what this is about.”

Contrary to belief, Keith wasn’t completely emotionally inept. Yes, he did struggle to communicate his feelings with other people, but that was because words were hard and people made them harder.

However, Keith wasn’t an idiot and could identify whatever feelings he had at a given moment. And at just about any moment spent with Lance, what Keith felt was affection.

Now that isn’t to say annoyance, embarrassment, and disbelief weren’t included in the mix, because Lance wasn’t easy. He could not think of a single interaction with Lance where the emotion he produced from Keith could be described with a single word. But despite the whirlpool of emotions Lance caused in Keith, he couldn’t deny the most prominent and long lasting one was affection.  

And since Keith was able to recognize his emotions clearly enough, he could definitely tell what that affection signified. And he was in no way okay with that.

Because it’s one thing to be pining when he was around Lance. It was a completely other thing when he was doing other things; like eating or walking or fucking training—the place he was supposed to be the most at peace and focused—and to suddenly think about Lance and what the idiot what say about the goo in his bowl or how the castle felt chillier that day or how he’d totally be calling out ridiculous jibes to Keith as he’d spar Shiro.

So yeah, Keith definitely knew why he was off his game. Didn’t mean he liked it. At all.

“So, if you know what’s causing it,” Shiro replied, seemingly oblivious to Keith’s inner contemplations. “Why don’t you find a way to fix it.”

And Keith couldn’t help but laugh at that. Because if he had a way to fix this he would.

“Yeah I don’t think a way to fix this exists.”

“Okay you emo little child,” Shiro said with a roll of his eyes. “Why don’t you tell me the problem and see if I can come up with a solution. Because there’s no such thing as a—

Despite Shiro’s sass (this what not emo, Keith knew emo), he knew he was right. But he also knew that he didn’t want to say out loud the words he was thinking. Because saying them out made them more solid and tangible. So even though he trusted Shiro with his life, this wasn’t something he was quite ready to comes to terms with.

So he shrugged, and hoped Shiro would understand.

“Well, you’re certainly not getting any training done today.”

And before Keith could start objecting, Shiro grabbed his arm and hoisted him up to his feet, causing Keith to stumble a bit to get his footing.

“Training is helpful when you learn from your mistakes and get better,” Shiro said, brushing his hands of imaginary dirt. The guy wasn’t even sweating. What a jerk. “Me just throwing you around isn’t helping either of us. Why don’t you just take some time to yourself.”

And Keith would object, but he knew Shiro was right. So he sighed, ready to make his way out the training room. He was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

“And whenever you’re ready to talk, I’m always here.”

Yep, Shiro understood.

“Gonna go find someone to lick your wounds?” Pidge asked, finally looking up to give Keith a smirk as he passed her on his way out. “Maybe our resident sharp—”

“Shiro!” Keith called out as he stepped out through the training room doors. “Pidge said they wanted to learn the move you just did on me!”

Keith didn’t need to look back to see Shiro snap his attention to Pidge or to know that Pidge was currently glaring lasers through the now closing door. Keith would pay for that. It was worth it.

Taking Shiro’s advice to heart, Keith made his way to his favorite space on the castle.

There were few places on the castle actually knew about. The thing was huge, and he wasn’t going to make it his mission to outline the floor plan of the damn place. But, he was glad that one sleepless night he’d stumbled across one room. He wasn’t sure what the intended purpose of it was, but he was grateful that the architect of the castle had deemed it necessary. With its wide curved windows and steps leading to them, this room made it a prime spot for Keith time.

Even though the bridge also offered an amazing view of the stars, it was often occupied by one member of the team or another. And even if it was empty, it was also filled with too many memories, a lot of them Keith didn’t want to relive. This room had none of that, and still gave Keith an amazing view of space. It was his go to space when he needed to time to just breathe and try not to buckle under the stress of being a paladin.

Making his way into the room, he settled on the ground in front the window, close enough that his breath fogged up the glass a bit. He liked being this close. It made space seem bigger. And that made his problems feel smaller.

Problems like what to do about his feelings about Lance. He knew there were solutions to it. None of them just seemed doable.

It made sense to just get over them. Forget about them, and ignore them until they vanished. But that’s what he’d been doing since the first time he felt his heart speed around Lance. And that had clearly proved unsuccessful.

Another was telling Lance and that was disastrous for many reasons. First was because if Lance didn’t feel the same, everything would get awkward. Not because of Lance, because sure he was a dick sometimes, but he’d never hold Keith’s feelings against him. But Keith didn’t think he’d be able to overcome the embarrassment. Like ‘hey Lance guy who admitted to wanting to suck your face here, please pass the space salt.’ And no, he wouldn’t actually say that, but that’s how he’d feel every interaction would go. Forever. Beyond the end of time and space and human interaction.

And then there was the issue of what if Lance shared his feelings. And that was just—

Suddenly his introspection was interrupted by a pair of arms wrapping around his shoulders and hands coming over to cover his eyes.

“Guess who?”

And maybe this room was also his favorite because only one other member of the team seemed to know about it.

Keith huffed, willing himself not to outright laugh at the ridiculous voice Lance used. As if that would be enough to stop Keith from recognizing him.

“A cargo pilot,” he replied, not even needing to look back to know that Lance’s expression was one of overstated outrage. He could have done without the ridiculously loud gasp though.

“Keith,” Lance groaned, leaning his forehead on the back of Keith’s head and causing Keith to in turn lean forward. He rolled his eyes at Lance’s dramatics. “Why do you wound me so? Is that all I am to you? After all this time?”

And Keith knew Lance wasn’t looking for a real answer so he didn’t give him one.

“If you were, I wouldn’t let you cling on to me like an octopus right now.”

Okay, so he kinda gave him one. Whatever.

“Aw, you big softy,” Lance said, adjusting himself so his head rested on his arm, both of which were still draped over Keith’s shoulders, and stretched his stupid long legs so that they caged Keith from either side. “I am more than a cargo pilot to you.”

“Yeah, you’re also the guy I can sweep the floor with on the training room.”

“Well, _you’re_ the worst rival I’ve ever had,” Lance retorted smugly. “What kind of rival offers to help me with my combat training. Geez, it’s like you have no sense of competition.”

And they both knew that wasn’t true, so Keith didn’t even deign that with a response.

“Could you imagine if everything was just like when we first got here?” Lance spoke softly after a beat of silence. It was almost like he was speaking to himself. “I was still a cargo pilot and you were still the bane of my existence.”

“I almost wish it was still like that.”

And though he hadn’t intended to say that out loud, Keith meant it. Back then, things were a lot simpler. Well, as simple as flying giant, cat robots as defenders of the universe could be. But things were a lot easier to comprehend. All Galra were bad, all Alteans were good, and Lance was annoying. But the more time spent hurling through stars and facing countless challenges, the more complicated those simple truths become.

Keith felt Lance looking at him, but he kept his gaze straight ahead, tracing the stars with his eyes.

“You really mean that?”

Giving in at the tone of his voice, Keith moved his gaze over to Lance, their eyes meeting for the first time in the conversation.

“I mean the almost part.”

Because yes, some Galra were bad, but some were also good. Some were even so good that they dedicated their lives to fighting against Zarkon, and had been fighting long before Keith or any of the other Paladins even knew what a Voltron was. They risked their lives, families, and were even hidden away from their own species in the name of what was right. And even further Keith himself was part Galra, so he liked to think he wasn’t the evil, bloodthirsty alien he had initially believed the Galra to be.

So yeah, being Galra didn’t inherently mean bad.

Just as being Altean didn’t automatically mean good. And since Keith thought there were only two Alteans left when they started this crazy journey, he couldn’t ever see how that would stop being true. But then Allura and Coran weren’t the only Alteans, and those two, along with the rest of the team, had to deal with the truth that the magical mind behind Zarkon and all his destruction was from the same people Zarkon had attempted to destroy first. That, coupled with the new mysterious threat that was Prince Lotor, had brought to light that Altean blood didn’t automatically make you a saint.

Then there was Lance.

And yes, he’d be lying if he said Lance still didn’t annoy him from time to time. But he’d also be very wrong to use that to characterize his entire persona. Because while Lance had the ability to annoy not only Keith, but the rest of his teammates, that wasn’t Lance’s only trait. It wasn’t even his most prevalent!

So now, a year later, things were much more complicated. And Keith did almost wish everything was as easy to understand as it had been at the start.

Almost.

Because even though in the fight against evil isn’t as black and white as they had initially thought, they now had allies when they were once alone. And though the question as to why Haggar would betray her people hung heavy over the heads of Allura and Coran, they knew the legacy of Altea truly lied with them and Voltron.

And even though life was easier when Lance was just annoying, sitting by him in a comfortable silence made it worth it.

“Why almost?”

And remember the whole not emotionally inept thing? It should be noted that Keith did acknowledge he was shit at turning those emotions into words. Which is exactly what he was being forced to do.

“Just,” he started, fighting the very powerful desire to break eye contact but refusing to back down. “Things were a lot more straightforward back then. I didn’t know as much, so my thoughts felt pretty distinct. Now things are…”

He felt his voice trail as his eyes finally lost their will to keep staring into Lance’s. Unfortunately for Keith, instead of returning his gaze back to the view, he found his eyes lowering until they focused on Lance’s lips.

He knew he should look away, finish his sentence, doing a fucking cartwheel, just do anything to cut through this ridiculous tension. Instead he found his breath hitching as Lance’s breath puffed onto his, and there was no way they were this close five seconds ago.

He chanced a look up at Lance and nope. No. Bad idea. Because Lance’s eyes were blue, but dark, and hooded, but shining, and everything that Keith just couldn’t handle in that moment. He jerked his head back, entire body tense as he stared back at the window.

He felt Lance look at him but refused to look back. That had been too close. Because even though Keith could acknowledge yes, he had feelings for Lance, he wasn’t quite ready to confront that these feelings might not be one sided. And he wasn’t sure when he would be ready. Because honestly, a crush already felt like a lot and anything more just seemed like it’d be too much. Too much of what Keith couldn’t tell you, but he couldn’t do too much of anything right now.

“Yeah,” Lance said quietly, dropping his arms so his hands settled on Keith’s hips and settling his head on Keith’s shoulder. “I get what you mean.”

Keith remained tense a few seconds more, waiting for Lance to call him out, demand some answer from him, or even just straight up leave; but, he remained seated around Keith. So, Keith let himself relax, leaning back into Lance’s chest.

“You know a year’s a long enough time for your hair to outgrow the whole mullet cut, so if you’d like to explain—”

“Shut up, Lance.”

- 

_“I tried my best to never let you in to see the truth_ _  
And I've never opened up, I’ve never truly loved”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wowza what chap. so i think i'm gonna be updating every other day if i can. i'm moving in a couple of weeks so definitely going to try a finish before that!
> 
> again thx for reading, ya'll are gr8


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith winced, thinking about how his behavior must’ve looked after a mission like that, and he felt a bit of guilt rise up.
> 
> That is until he caught sight of the blue lion landing in the hangar next to the yellow lion.
> 
> That idiot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whooooo and we're back
> 
> thanks all for the kudos and comments, they really touch ma heat
> 
> so with chap, we're halfway done so here we goooo

Keith ripped his helmet off, knee bouncing as he sat in the seat of his lion. He could feel Red trying to send calming thoughts at him, but his lion was about just as good as comforting people as he was. He snorted at the thought, and felt himself settle down a bit. Leaning back, he sent up thoughts of appreciation.

_Thanks girl. I don’t know how I’d stay sane without you._

At that, she sent slightly more smug feelings (oh, _that_ she could do real easy), and Keith actually laughed aloud at that. He felt himself cool for the first time the entire flight back to castle. Not that read had minded, but he had felt tinges of concern from his other teammates at his behavior. He should probably go let them know he was alright. Keith winced, thinking about how his behavior must’ve looked after a mission like that, and he felt a bit of guilt rise up.

That is until he caught sight of the blue lion landing in the hangar next to the yellow lion.

That _idiot._

Suddenly all his anger was back, and he was rushing out of his seat and out of Red. He sent waves of thanks to her absentmindedly for her earlier comfort, but right now he needed to yell. Or punch. Maybe both. Just do _something_.

He was stopped from his rampage by a hand on his shoulder, and he looked up to see Shiro looking at him with both brows raised.

“Briefing first. Then you can go talk things out.”

Oh, he’d talk alright.

Begrudgingly he followed Shiro out of the hangar, not even looking back to see if the other paladins were following or not. If he looked back, there was a chance he’d see Lance’s stupid face and no amount of shoulder grasping by Shiro would be able to hold him back.

The mission was going to be a difficult one, they knew that going in. They had managed to find one of the Galra’s largest prisoner holding facilities. Good news was that at the time they had discovered it, Pidge had figured out there was a Galra ship that would be docking at the station with info on the various hidden bases and prisons the Galra Empire had around the galaxy. The bad news was that that same ship had both an ion cannon and dozens of dozens of armed fighter ships ready to be deployed at any given moment. And although the risk was high, the liberated prisoners and intel that would give them an edge in this war was worth it.

They had agreed unanimously.

And the mission had gone great, considering. Sure, they were all a little banged up, but no one was going to need a cryopod. And they had managed to get all the prisoners out safely, along with most of the intel. Yeah, it would’ve been nice to have gotten all the info, but they hadn’t even needed to fight Galra ships for long before Allura had been able to wormhole them out of there. Normally they wouldn’t have minded the battle, but they had prisoners to consider and knew they couldn’t risk their lives, especially right after freeing them. So they had to get out of there as soon as possible, which they were able to do.

So really it was a mission well done. Except Lance.

Keith entered the Bridge and made a beeline to the wall furthest from the center from the room. He was out there, he didn’t need a recap of what had happened. And maybe that was a little callous of him, but he couldn’t find it in him to care.

Because this mission should’ve been fine. It technically was fine. Hunk. Shiro, and Pidge were to make their way to where the prisoners cells should be—Pidge because of her cloaking and Hunk and Shiro because the size of their lions would be able to carry the mass of prisoners.

This left Lance and Keith to be concerned about the intel. This worked for two reason—first off, Keith could interact with the interface of the ship with the most ease, and with Pidge on coms with all of them, they’d be able to walk him through the weird device they’d given him to extract the data. Normally they’d let Pidge go themselves, but the arrangement of the base was not in their favor. While the base’s setup allowed the other three paladins to practically fly their lions straight to the prisoners, it unfortunately didn’t allow the same for the other two. The system containing the intel was in the center of the base. So it was better if Keith, with his ability to quickly get through the Galra tech, was the one making his way into the belly of the base. This also lead into the second reason.

Keith and Lance just worked really well together. Being in the center meant more likeliness of running into more Galra. This meant that Keith and Lance were going to have to fight their way through and sentry or soldiers they’d come across. And that was no problem for the two. The mixture of long and close range weapons combined with just the harmony between the two of them when they fought made them a deadly pair.

So the plan, despite the danger of the mission, was well thought out.

Except Lance had nearly lost his stupid life. Saving Keith’s.

And that was why Keith was so unbelievably pissed.

“Keith.”

He snapped his head up at the sounds of his name, only to notice that it was only Allura, Shiro, and Coran in the room with him.

“Where are—”

“Hunk and Lance are working to unload the prisoners and Pidge is working on decrypting that data,” Shiro interrupted in a tone that said, ‘you would’ve known this if you were listening.’ Whoops. “You’re good to go if you want to shower, or eat, or just _take some time to yourself._ ”

Which was in no way subtle, but definitely effective—Keith got the message loud and clear. Cool off, and then go pick the fight both he and Shiro knew was going to happen when he found Lance.

Nodding his head at them, Keith left the bridge. Part of him wanted to go to Red and silently fume for a while, but that could mean running to Lance which was the opposite of what Shiro wanted. He could go to the training deck, but he knew that would only work him up more, so it probably wasn’t the best idea.

Well if alone what was Shiro recommended (read: demanded), Keith’s best bet would be his room.

Making his way down the corridors, he felt himself tense as his thoughts picked up from when they were interrupted.

Okay yeah, if that drone had shot Keith, they’d probably would’ve needed to leave immediately, with no data, and mostly likely not as smooth an exit. But that didn’t justify Lance stepping in front of him at the last minute. And Keith _knew_ Lance hadn’t planned for the blast to bounce of his bayard—raised in front of head in a last-ditch effort of self-defense—as it had, saving both of them from the blow. That was all luck, which meant that asshole had been willing to take the shot for him.

And yes, maybe Keith should be grateful, but all that was going through his head was what if Lance’s bayard hadn’t been there? What if the drone had aimed a little lower or higher? What if Lance would’ve gotten blasted just because he’d thought it was perfectly acceptable to step in front of Keith.

Sighing, he mentally thanked Shiro—this alone time would be good for him—and entered the code for his room. Only to find Lance already there. Sitting on his bed.

At least he’d tried.

“Look I know your upset about the mission,” Lance started, hands already up in an appeasing gesture. Good, he knew Keith was pissed. “But everyone came out safe, so it’s fine!”

So, they were doing this now. Great.

“Just because everyone’s safe now doesn’t mean we’ll be if you ever try that again,” Keith replied, crossing his room to put his helmet on his dresser. “It also doesn’t justify you risking your life in the first place.”

“We all risk our lives all the time,” Lance replied. He stretched his arms out to lean back on them and looked much too relaxed about this conversation. “Us risking our lives with this mission is the only reason my life was in any amount of danger.”

“But your life didn’t _have_ to be in any danger!”

“And neither was yours, thanks to me,” Lance said with a shrug, and Keith felt his fists clench.

“Stop acting like that!” Keith nearly shouted, causing Lance to jump. “This isn’t a talk about the goddamn weather—you almost died, do you get that?”

“I get it Keith, but I don’t get why you’re so upset?”

“Why I’m so upset?” Keith resisted the urge to tug at his hair. Lance was a complete idiot if he thought Keith wouldn’t have been distraught about this. “Lance, you could’ve died saving me. You don’t see why this would upset me?”

“Ah, ah, ah,” Lance replied, shaking his finger as Keith felt the vein on his forehead pulse. “I sais _so_ upset. I get why in the moment you’d be mad, but why now? The mission turned out great and we’re both safe.”

“Because you’re talking like you’d totally do this again—and that’s a problem!”

“What so I’m not allowed to care about my teammates?”

“That’s not what this is about and you know it.”

“What do you mean that’s not what it’s about,” Lance asked. “What else could it be about?”

“Your self-sacrificing complex!”

And in the back of Keith’s mind he knew he should’ve brought it up more delicately. He remembered late night conversations where Lance quietly confessed his insecurities about his place on the team. How long it had taken them to get to that point, and how his chest had warmed with Lance’s trust.

However, Keith was angry and rash and wanted to get it through Lance’s thick skull that he’d done had not been okay.

But now Lance’s eyes had steeled over, and Keith felt the beginning of guilt start to tug in the back of his head. But before he could start apologizing, Lance had already opened his mouth.

“Look I get you’re not used to people caring about you,” Lance replied, his voice cold, and Keith bristled angrily. Low fucking blow Lance. “But generally, when someone does something nice you don’t act like a complete dick.”

“Oh so I’m the only one being a dick right now,” Keith snarled, apology now forgotten. “Just because I don’t want to see you fucking dead—”

“Dios, how many times do I have to say I’m not—”

“Doesn’t mean you won’t be if you don’t stop with this bullshit—”

“Fuck you, not everything comes down to my—”

“Well then why would risk you _own life_ —”

“Because if I hadn’t you wouldn’t be here right now!”

And Keith paused. Not because of the shock of the words (he’d been trying to be a fighter pilot before this, he had come to terms with his mortality), but the way Lance said them. Like it was worst thing that could happen to him. Like it mattered and the grand scheme of the entire universe. Like he would do anything to stop it from happening.

“Lance,” Keith said lowly, but firm. “That could happen to any of us. You said so yourself that we risk our lives every day.”

“Sure,” Lance replied, back to shrugging _again,_ pissing Keith off even more. “Doesn’t mean I’m going to sit idly by if I can _do something about it_.”

“That doesn’t mean you should!” Keith said, trying to get it through Lance’s stubborn head. “Look, if there’s a 100 percent chance you would die saving me from something that might not even kill me, would you?”

“Yeah.”

What.

“What!”

And Keith had been ready. He had his argument set up and was prepared for the final blow. Lance would say no, and then he’d explain that every time he tried saving someone on the team his chance of dying went up to near 100. Because this war was unpredictable, and whenever you added an unexpected variable—such as Lance throwing himself in the middle of it—anything could happen. In fact, the worse would probably, and Lance would probably get himself hurt. Or worse.

So, yeah he had been pretty confident in his plan.

Until this idiot messed it up.

“Why are you so surprised?”

“What?”

And Keith felt so out of depth. Because Lance was looking at him like this should be the easiest thing to understand. As if Keith should have expected, yes, Lance would without hesitation give up his life if it meant Keith would be alright. Maybe for Hunk or Pidge, who he’s known forever, or Shiro, who’s been through so much and deserves a life, or Allura and Coran who’re the some of last of Altea.

But Lance said he’d do it for him and he felt like he was drowning because this was _too much_. Why had he said it so casually? Why was he implying this was something Keith should’ve known? Keith had all the right to be surprised.

“Keith…” Lance started, his voice low as he stood up and no no no, Keith couldn’t do this.

“I know we haven’t really talked—” He was coming closer.

Too much.

“About, well anything really—” He was right in front of Keith.

_Too much._

“When it come to me and you, but—” He was putting his arms around Keith's waist.

_Too fucking much._

“Please, not now,” Keith said, voice so quiet. After a slight pause, he added again. “Please.”

Because at least if he was going to avoid this he could be polite about it.

“What?” Lance asked, looking completely bewildered. “Keith, I don’t get—”

Lance stopped abruptly when Keith finally made eye contact. Keith wasn’t sure what Lance saw because he was just feeling so much and there was no way Lance as getting all of that. He was definitely angry—angry at himself, at Lance, at this whole goddamn situation. Angry because Lance was talking to him like he knew something, something that Keith was apparently supposed to know and so what if Keith _did_ know? Why address anything now?

So, Keith was angry, but he was also confused. Because everything was good. It was easy, and sure maybe they never really talked about this thing between them but no one said that was a bad thing. Why not let everything remain unspoken and buried and comfortable? Why was Lance trying to make things harder on Keith? On both of them.

And he was tired. So, so, so tired. Because he and Lance hadn’t fought like this in a long time. Yes, they still bickered over the exact shade of green the slime food was and teased each other around the clock but not like this. This was angrier, and extremely remnant of their early days. And maybe if Keith hadn’t gotten used to a real friendship with Lance, one full a soft smiles and gentle touches, he wouldn’t be so upset about this. But he had gotten used to it, so now fighting like this—with yelling and accusations—felt so much more draining than they used to.

And he was sad and overwhelmed and bitter. And on top of that he felt the myriad of emotions that were always there when Lance was around. So, he really wasn’t sure what Lance saw to make him hunch in defeat, seeming to deflate as his breath left him.

“Fine I’ll go,” he said, and Keith couldn’t tell how his chest both felt heavy and empty when his arms left from around him. “But, I’m not just gonna leave you to overthink everything alone Keith.”

Lance started to lift his hand up, to do what Keith wasn’t sure but his breathed hitched regardless. When he ultimately pulled his hand away, Keith felt that hollow weight pull in his chest further. He turned, face following Lance as he left Keith’s room but his body never moving after him.

Before crossing the doorway, however, Lance paused.

“You can come talk to me whenever you feel up to it, no rush,” Lance said, a smile so fake on his space it made Keith ache. “But I am gonna bother you in a few hours because you’re not skipping on dinner.”

And then the door was sliding close.

Keith stared tiredly at the door. Part of him wanted to go after Lance, let him know that the sentiment was mutual but right then everything felt too much. And even though he’d tried to leave on a good note, that wasn’t an apology from Lance. But at least it was invitation for one when they’ve both had some space.

Or apparently had Keith needed some space because Lance was good to go all the fucking time.

Keith sighed, making his way to collapse on his bed. Being angry and bitter at Lance wasn’t going to fix anything. He just needed to cool down. He’d find Lance, they’d both apologize, and things would go back to normal.

But for some reason the thought of that couldn’t get rid of the weird mix of heaviness and emptiness in his chest.

Ache. That was the word to describe it. An ache in his chest.

-

 _“_ _How many times will let you me change my mind and turn around_ _  
I can't decide if I'll let you save my life or if I'll drown”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> when,,,will i stop,,,using so many comma,,,,?
> 
> the world may never know
> 
> sorry this was out a little later than expected, hope you all liked it though


	4. 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I thought you were supposed to be the realist,” Lance chuckled deprecatingly, resting his head softly on Keith’s shoulder.
> 
> “I am,” Keith insisted, hands falling uselessly to his side as he finished up. He rested his chin on Lance shoulder, letting out a shaky breath. “You’re going to be fine."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG im so sorry this took longer than i promised! i had to leave my place unexpectedly for a bit, which included leaving my laptop so i couldn't work on anything until recently! 
> 
> but thanks so much everyone for reading so far, hope you enjoy this chapter!

Keith was wrong. So wrong. Just absolutely wrong on so many levels.

Screw leaving things unsaid. Because while he was so busy trying to maintain this absurd balance in his and Lance’s relationship, he’d forgotten that in the lives they lead, if things aren’t said in the moment they might never be said.

Which was ridiculous because wasn’t that what the fight had been about in the first place? How risky the lives they lived were? How any of them could die in any moment? What _had_ that fight even been about?

God, they were such idiots.

“Keith…”

At the sound of his name, Keith pushed Red to go even faster. She responded without hesitation, speeding as she made her way to the castle.

The castle that wasn’t responding for some reason. And while normally that’s cause him to be alarmed about the rest of team, now it only caused him more stress. Yes, he knew that plans weren’t always followed, but this was much more than he’d anticipated for this simple of a mission. And he really needed the castle to answer because while he was aiming for the general area it had been in before, he had no guarantee that it would actually be there.

“Keith,” Lance repeated, voice less shaky but not sounding any stronger. Keith kept his gaze fixated ahead, not letting Lance distract him.

“Stop talking. Save your energy.”

And maybe it was curt, but Keith was doing all he could not to panic and talking anymore would just cause him to become more anxious. Right now, he needed all his energy focused on getting them back so that Lance could get in a pod and heal and get back to being his terrible self.

After a few moments of silence, it seemed like Lance decided to listen to him because he got real quiet.

Too quiet.

Keith chanced a look at him and immediately regretted it. Because the wound on Lance’s stomach was an even deeper red than when they’d first left the retched planet, his face was paler than it ever should be with dried tear tracks covering his cheeks, and _fuck_ his eyes were closed. Was his chest moving? He was too far away for Keith to check his pulse, why was he so far away?

He snapped his eyes back at the screen when he started causing Red to tilt too much to the right, but not before letting out a distressed sound that he would deny for all his life.

“Wake up you asshole!”

If his voice cracked, he wasn’t going to be the one to mention it.

He heard Lance jolt at his shout, followed by a pained gasped. He felt a bit bad about it, but he’d rather him in pain than dead.

“Geez Keith,” Lance groaned. “I finally stop talking and you yell at me.”

“I said to stop talking, not to pass out!” Keith snapped, fist tightening around the controls.

“I’m trying,” Lanced replied breathily, and Keith’s heart skipped a beat. He sounded so weak. “I’m actually not the biggest fan of dying. Does terrible things to my complexion.”

“You’re not going to,” Keith bit, feeling his nerves frazzle. “Are you putting pressure on your wound?”

“As much as I can manage,” Lance sighed, and Keith heard the sound of his head meeting the metal interior of Red. He tensed, but figured Lance would let him know if he felt he was about to pass out again. It was quiet a little after that, allowing Keith to try communications again, only to be met with static.

Part of him was truly concerned about why coms were down, but he was much more worried about Lance’s wellbeing. And speak (or rather think) of the devil, and—

“Keith…”

Keith bristled at Lance’s tone—because he sounded resigned and soft and regretful, and even though Keith now recognized they needed to talk about everything, it would not be like this. It would be when (not _if_ ) Lance was out of the cryopod and there wasn’t the threat of death looming over them.

Sending a quick request up to Red, he patiently waited to see if she was willing to fly herself for a while. With the added weight of another lion and Keith’s own emotional distress, he could see how it could be a bit much. At that thought, Red did the equivalent of a mental snort and urged Keith out of his seat.

Sending the largest waves of thanks he could manage, Keith briskly got out of his chair and went to grab the first aid kit before making his way to Lance. He’d been determined to fly Red himself, knowing they’d get back faster, but it seemed he was going to have to give Lance some care.

“Don’t say my name like that,” he said, moving Lance’s hand away from his wound—not that it made much a difference. Lance had barely been putting any weight on it, but Keith couldn’t really blame him. With the amount of blood he’d loss, Keith was impressed Lance had managed to keep his hand there at all. He put a proper amount of pressure with one hand as the other began unwinding the roll of bandages. He winced at the pained noises Lance made but muscled through it.

“Like what,” Lance said with a strained smile, and Keith wanted to punch him. Because even though he was sweaty and pale (much paler up close had Keith had initially thought), he managed to give Keith a smile so bright and genuine and _Lance_ that his heart clenched. He averted his eyes, focusing on his messy bandaging of Lance side. Considering how badly his hands were shaking, he thought he was doing pretty good.

“Like you’re going to…”

Keith couldn’t finish his sentence. This wasn’t how this mission was supposed to go. It was supposed to be easy. Go to a deserted planet, pick up some resources “necessary” for the castle’s function, and leave. Then again, missions do tend to become more complicated when there are unexpected Galra soldiers.

“I thought you were supposed to be the realist,” Lance chuckled deprecatingly, resting his head softly on Keith’s shoulder.

“I am,” Keith insisted, hands falling uselessly to his side as he finished up. He rested his chin on Lance shoulder, letting out a shaky breath. “You’re _not_ going to die. You’re going to be fine. Because if you’re not it’ll be…”

Damn was he having a hard time finishing his sentence.

His fault. It would be all his fault. His fault for dragging out the ridiculous tension between the two of them ever since that stupid fight—causing Allura to pair them for this inane mission in the first place. His fault for ignoring his bad feeling about the planet when they arrived just because he didn’t want to make unnecessary conversation with Lance. His fault for not noticing the Galra soldier sneaking behind them and making the fatal (no, _not_ fatal because Lance was going to be okay) shot to Lance’s torso. His fault for racing back to his lion and not even trying to perform any kind first aid on Lance because he was so focused on grabbing the blue lion and leaving as fast as possible. And now Lance was practically dying in front of him and Keith felt so useless because if anything happened to Lance…

“It’ll be all my fault.”

“Keith,” Lanced breathed, somehow managing to make his voice sound hard. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. And we’re in space. Flying robotic lions. That are color coordinated.”

Lance shifted back from him, moving his arms slightly so he could grab Keith’s forearms. He squeezed them, forcing Keith to make eye contact with him.

“There was no way we could’ve known for sure what was going to happen on that planet,” Lance started voice surprisingly kind. How he got any emotion in his voice when he was clearly in so much pain was beyond Keith.

Releasing one of Keith’s arms, Lance raised a shaky hand and began counting off.

“Okay first of all, sure it seemed suspicious that a planet with such valuable resources would be without any Galra presence, but we had a mission to do. We weren’t gonna turn back because of unfounded suspicions. And neither of us saw that Galra jerk sneak behind us. Hell, if it wasn’t for you reacting so quickly and taking him down we both would’ve been done for. Plus, if you hadn’t gotten us the hell out of there so quickly, they definitely would’ve caught up to us and done some serious damage to us _and_ our lions. Or, even worse, they could’ve called for backup and not only would we have been goners, but they would’ve gotten both of our lions.”

Lance slid his hands up Keith’s arms coming to rest on his shoulders.

“So no, it’s not your fault I’ve currently got a hole in my stomach,” Lance finished. “Like everything other bad thing that’s happened to us, it’s because of the Galra empire. I’ve actually got you to thank that I’ve made it this far.”

Keith didn’t understand how Lance did that. He hadn’t even told Lance why he’d thought it was his own fault. But somehow, not only had Lance been able to tear down every justification he’d internalized for blaming himself, he was also able to turn it around so that he ended up _thanking_ Keith for his role on the mission. He felt himself physically deflate as Lance checked off each of the reasons he’d blamed himself for Lance’s bleeding out. Well, every reason except one.

“It’s still my fault we’re on this stupid mission in the first place,” Keith croaked, and fuck he better not start crying. He wasn’t the one who might not make it to see the castle. “It’s my fault we got in that stupid fight, and had all this horrible tension that made Allura send us on a glorified battery run.”

Lance laughed at that, then immediately cried out after wards. Keith’s hands went to his wound, shaking because Lance looked even paler now.

“I think,” Lanced gasped as he tightened his hold on Keith’s shoulders. “We could both be blamed for that. Which is a shame because now I really need to tell you—”

“I said stop talking like that,” Keith interrupted, looking up to glare at Lance. He was met with an unimpressed look, and Lance opened his mouth to speak until a noise leaked out of Keith’s helmet. Shooting up, Keith rushed to his helmet and put it on.

“Hello!” he shouted, desperate for some good news.

“Keith?” Allura answered, and Keith could’ve cried. “Have you been trying to contact the castle? Sorry there was trouble on this end and we—”

“It’s fine, but Lance is in trouble. I need castle coordinates right now and for someone to get a cryopod ready.”

“On it,” She replied coolly, and Keith nearly got chills with how authoritative her voice sounded. Allura’s muffled voice then started calling out commands and he felt his entire body sag in relief as the castle’s coordinates popped up on his screen. They weren’t even two dobashes away.

“Everything going okay?”  Lanced called out, and even though it sounded strained Keith couldn’t help but smile. Because he had no doubt Lance could last the time it would take to get to the castle and into the cryopod.

“Going great,” Keith called out. “Just got in touch with the team and we’re almost there.”

He heard Lance let out a breathy laugh, a little shaky and a little wet—but he wouldn’t call him out on it.

When the castle came into view, Keith finally began relaxing his tense muscles. As soon as they landed in the hangar, he could see Hunk and Pidge waiting for them. Getting up from his seat, Keith made his way over to Lance, letting Lance wrap his arm around Keith’s shoulders. He immediately returned the gesture, tightening his hold when Lance started swaying.

“Hey take it easy,” Keith murmured. “No need to make it his far only for you to drop on me now.”

Lance only nodded, and they made their way slowly out of Red, and met a very distressed looking Hunk and Pidge.

“I got him,” Hunk said, moving to lift Lance up. Keith wanted to protest—he’d gotten Lance this far he, could take him the next couple of meters to the med bay—but he knew that Hunk could get him to the cryopods faster.

Relinquishing his hold, Keith watched as Hunk carried Lance away. He glanced down at Pidge, expecting them to follow but they were just staring worriedly at Keith.

“I’m guessing your little side quest went better than ours.”

And yes he sounded bitter, and Pidge didn’t deserve that but that had been the most stressful thing he’d had to go through in a long time.

“Are you okay?” Pidge asked hesitantly, ignoring Keith’s tone all together and looking as if they expected Keith to fall over. “You don’t need to spend a bit in the cryopods?”

“No? Why would you think that?”

Pidge looked pointedly at his suit, and Keith felt himself pale at the sight of how much blood was on him. He hadn’t been focused on it before, to zeroed in on looking at all the blood on Lance. But fuck there was so much on his suit and gloves and he felt lightheaded because he thought Lance had lost a lot of blood _before_ but now seeing all of it that was on Keith…

He bolted, sprinting to the med bay as he heard Pidge calling his name. He arrived just as Coran and Shiro were putting Lance in a cryopod, which was good right that meant he was still alive? He hadn’t lost too much blood and was going to be fine in no time?

“Keith,” Coran said, brows furrowed as he noticed him. “You’re looking a little worse for wear, did you need anything?”

And if that wasn’t the question.

Keith didn’t think of himself as a person with a lot of needs. Yes, the necessities for survival of course but other than that he’d be fine. Him living alone in the dessert for a year had proved that. And while he recognized that a shack in the middle of nowhere wasn’t exactly the height of luxury, he’d be content like that before and if you’d asked him in the beginning of this ridiculous journey he’d say he’d be able to do it again.

But now he’s not so sure.

He still stood by the fact that he could survive if he was plopped in the middle of the dessert, but he’d never be fine or content or whatever word he’d convinced himself he was during that lonely year. Not now that he was familiar with what Lance’s smile looked like and hugs felt like and eyes shined like. Not now that Lance’s presence had become such a constant for him that these past few days near avoiding him were miserable. Not now that he’d had to contemplate what his life would be like without Lance on the longest flight of his life.

Some maybe he didn’t anything more than some rest, water, and a good shower.

But he was ready to admit to himself that on top of that, he wanted to be with Lance. Like regardless of the trials and difficulties he knew what come, he wanted Lance to be a part of that. Because though he’d survive, he’d feel pretty incomplete without Lance by his side.

But Lance was okay. So that meant he had a chance.

“Thanks, but I’ll be okay.”

-

_“The world is coming down on me_ _and I can't find a reason to be loved  
I never wanna leave you but I can't make you bleed if I'm alone”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i did not know it was 'worse for wear' and not 'worse for ware' until this chapter so the more you know
> 
> ugh this has been a stressful week and i feel like i vented that onto this chapter, like my electricity went out???? as i am typing this???? and im using my hotspot????
> 
> like what kind of terrible luck
> 
> don't pay your bills, it gets you nothing
> 
> BUT ANYWAY i will trying to get out that next chapter soon! hopefully much sooner than it took for this one!


	5. 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You’re right,” Keith conceded, grinning as Lance bumped his shoulder. “On both counts. But Allura can handle them easily.”
> 
> “Yeah well, it’s really just a glorified talk,” Lance said teasingly, side eyeing Keith. “How hard could that be?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whoooo only one more chapter to go
> 
> im glad i was able to get this out earlier than i intended, so i hope you al like it!

Most of the time it was easy to convince a planet to join their alliance—you know with the whole liberating their people and running the Galra to the opposite side of the universe thing. But other times, negotiations, bargaining, and all sorts of politics needed to take place before a planet felt secure aligning themselves with Voltron.

That was the diplomatic side of Voltron. It was also Keith’s least favorite side. He would much rather blast or stab his way through droids than attempt to convince anyone as to why they should trust Voltron.

Luckily, this particular planet only needed a few of them for the discussion. They had actually been quite adamant that only Allura be present during the discussion, but she insisted that at least one of the paladins be present. So that’s how Shiro had ended up with Allura with the top council of elders of the planet while the rest of the team had been given freedom to explore the palace they were staying at in the meantime.

This lead to where Keith was now, leisurely strolling through the palace with Lance at his side.

“It’s just sort of disappointing,” He explained, as Keith listened attentively. “The diplomatic part of this whole shebang is where I get to shine, but they had to be all picky. Like I get it, they’re scared, but there’s no need to exclude the rest of us.”

Unlike Keith, Lance was not as pleased about the turn of events.

“ _I_ don’t get it,” Keith replied and eyes on the art on the wall of the palace. “Like don’t get me wrong, I’m glad I have no part in the delegations—no offense. But if we proved in front of them that we can handle the Galra, I don’t see why they need to have such lengthy discussion.”

“I mean they’ve been under the Galra’s reign for a long time,” Lance said with a shrug. “It can’t be easy just deciding to make themselves absolute enemies of them especially when they’ve can see up front what they can do. I just don’t see why they didn’t want anyone but Allura in there.”

This. This was why Lance was the better diplomat. Because Keith doubted that if he’d asked that question during the negotiations, the council would have been as calm.

“You’re right,” Keith conceded, grinning as Lance bumped his shoulder. “On both counts. But Allura can handle them easily.”

“Yeah well, it’s really just a glorified talk,” Lance said teasingly, side eyeing Keith. “How hard could that be?”

Keith felt himself flush a bit, but really he couldn’t be blamed for their lack of ‘serious  talk about feelings’ session. Lance knew it too, it was the only reason he was joking about it.

When Lance had been released from the cryopod, it had been into Hunk’s arms as the rest of the team stood by. While everyone crowded him in a dewy-eyed reunion, Keith and Lance made eye contact. With a subtle nod, they understood that’d they would save their much anticipated talk for later when they were alone.

Except alone was a lot harder to come by then they’d expected.

Not long after Lance was out and walking again did they have an incoming distress call from a small space craft. The team managed to help the crew, who had crashed onto a small dessert planet, and then learned about their story.

They had come from a planet named Batalha that had been under Galra rule for decades, and the crew had been trying to flee it when a Galra ship shot at them and left them for dead on the planet they were on now. The crew explained how the Galra used their people as slaves, making them build weapons and other materials for the empire and killing those who tried to resist. They shared their desire for a better life, and how there was no chance this would happen while staying on their home planet.

And there really wasn’t a choice for the Voltron team as to what they were going to do next.

Luckily, with the aid of the crew, they had a better understanding of the planet and a strategic edge, but that didn’t mean the mission was going to be a walk in the park. It was a hectic few days, going over strategy and trying to formulate a plan that would drive out the Galra but still keep the inhabitants of the planet as safe as possible during the battle. And in that period, there wasn’t really time for a heart to heart.

Then the actual mission took place, and as most operations they attempt, it went nothing like the plan. Taking account the size of the Galra presence on the planet, the lack of cooperation from large amounts of people who didn’t want to enrage the Galra further, and a fucking Robobeast, there were a lot of bumps in the road.

But they were Voltron. They prevailed. Obviously.

So now negotiations were going down, and they were stuck on a palace that, while ridiculously huge and stunning, was not necessarily ideal for the long-winded talk he and Lance _really_ needed to have.

Like honestly. He was finally on board and the universe decides to do everything in it power to stop them from progressing in their relationship. Go figure.

“Well I’ve always been one for action than words,” Keith replied, sly smile stretching across his mouth. If Lance wanted to tease about this, Keith could too. “I’m surprised you haven’t found a way to getting a talk going, considering how much you love to run your mouth.”

“Well I don’t see any actions coming from you either.”

“What?” Keith jolted, head snapping in Lance’s direction. “What do you mean by that?”

“Well, if you’re judging based on what you said,” Lance shrugged, looking much too smug for Keith’s comfort. “Then your just as welcome to take any actions you’d like.”

Mabye the universe wasn’t as against his side as he’d thought.

But they were also still on a planet where a pact against the Galra was not guaranteed. And if it was an understood that they shouldn’t be pouring their hearts out right then, then grabbing Lance by his neck and pulling him down to—

Yeah, that was probably not the most appropriate thing to do.

“That’s unfair and not the same,” Keith replied, instead of rising to whatever bait Lance had been trying to pull.

“Unfair!” Lance laughed, adamantly shaking his head. “No, what’s unfair is you tickling my neck—my most ticklish spot— while we were getting briefed and making me look like an idiot.”

My idiot.

Okay, Keith, calm down a bit.

“Oh, you mean like this?” Keith instead replied as he reached up to aim at said spot. He barely skimmed it with his fingertips before Lance let out a few giggles before leaning back and grabbing Keith’s wrist, keeping his hand away from his neck. Not one to be deterred, Keith tried with his other hand. Unfortunately, Lance was prepared this time and caught that hand before it even made contact.

“You’re the worse,” Lance tried saying, but he was barely understandable through his laughter. It was basically like Keith was tickling him anyway. “I trust you with a secret I guard with my life and you use it against me.”

Keith just grinned, laughing loudly as Lance shrieked when Keith pushed his hands closer to his neck. They probably looked ridiculous, two supposed guardians of Voltron pulling and tugging at each other’s hands while they giggle like little kids. But Lance’s eyes almost shut with how large he was smiling, and Keith felt his heart skip a beat.

God, he was in love with him.

“Paladins!”

Keith jerked, both at the shout from the end of the hallway and the thought that had just easily passed through his mind. The two separated, and Keith both felt a sense of loss and relief. Great. He was back to panicking about his feelings again.

The two of them looked up to see one of the nobles they had been introduced to earlier walking their way. Not that Keith remembered his name or face. All the royals they had been introduced to earlier looked the same to Keith and the rest of the paladins, all willowy aliens in a rusty color standing at about 7 feet tall. Apparently, the species could tell each other apart due to extremely subtle differences in their eyes that only they could perceive.

“I’m sorry it was all so rushed earlier,” They said, smiling and showing off their rounded lavender teeth. “But I wanted to reiterate my thanks once more. Without you, who knows if we ever would’ve been free.”

And Keith would’ve been a lot more gracious about this interaction if it wasn’t for how the Kelperian’s tiny pupils were focused on Lance.

“It’s nothing,” Lance said waving him off with a blinding smile. “We’re Voltron, it’s what we do.”

“Well, I’d feel much better about you risking your lives for us if I at least had your name.”

Keith bristled—the guy was acting like he wasn’t even here. And no, he and Lance weren’t technically anything, but it was still rude to not acknowledge the guy standing _right there._

Sensing his discomfort, Lance slid closer to Keith, placing a hand on his shoulder.

“Yeah that’s cool. I’m Lance, and this is Keith.”

His eyes slid to Keith, narrowing as the he stared into Keith’s eyes. Suddenly, his face went from welcoming to nasty and Keith knew what was going to happen before he even opened his mouth.

“So, the rumors are true,” the noble said, nose pointed up. “There is a Galra in your crowd.”

Keith resisted the urge to blow out an annoyed huff. He also resisted letting the hurt at those words show on his face. This wasn’t uncommon. There were many species that were able to tell that Keith was part Galra, either through some ability of their people or the simple fact that sometimes Keith’s Galra genes popped up from time to time.

Whether it was the fuzzy ears, pointed fangs, purple tinted skin or sometimes all and more, Keith had little control as to when his Galra side decided to rear it head or not.

But last he’d check, he was still very much human looking. He resisted the impulse to run his hand through his hair to check for the ears, but he did subtly check his teeth for fangs.

Nope. Dull as ever.

“Yeah I am,” Keith said. “Well part-Galra at least.”

“I didn’t need your confirmation half-breed,” and okay _ouch_ , he couldn’t help flinching at that one. “Our species has the ability to recognize species we’re familiar with through eye contact alone. And we’re very familiar with the Galra.”

Keith resisted trying to shrink in on himself, and shot his gaze to the side. This was the difficult part. Because how was he supposed to say, ‘Oh yeah, ya know that race that enslaved you all and made your lives a living hell? Well I’m part of it and if you have any problems you should just ignore them because I happened to save your life!’ He couldn’t, and though he’d come to terms with not all Galra not being evil, it was harder to convince someone else of that when their whole lives had been plagued with terrors caused by the Galra empire.

“And luckily we are too,” Lance intervened, moving between the two and in front of Keith. “Keith himself is so familiar that he took on Zarkon by himself.”

Keith felt heat rise to his face, because Lance loved telling people that but it honestly wasn’t that great. It was a show of his impulsiveness sure, but he hadn’t really accomplished much by challenging the former head of the Galra empire.

“He’s also basically the only reason we’re so strategically ahead when it comes to the Galra,” Lance continued, talking in that fake airy tone that always caused Keith to get nervous. “He’s the only one who can easily interact with their system and help us sneak into their facilities. Like the one we took down on your planet.”

“He also just so happens to be a paladin of Voltron, most specifically the Red paladin. And trust me when I say that lion does _not_ chose easy.”

Lance took a step closer to the alien, who despite his height advantage looked uneasy.

“So,” Lance finished, voice much harder than before. “Count yourself lucky that we’re so familiar with the Galra. Especially the one who just risked his life saving your planet.”

Keith…

“Well, I suppose he is only part Galra,” the Batalhan murmured, eyes flicking between Keith and Lance.

Keith released his breath, glad they’d avoided a real conflict when he saw Lance cross his arms.

“Yeah, no,” He said, voice losing all of its earlier casualness. “Keith would still be in front of you right now if he was a full-fledged Galra, raised by them by birth. He’s one of best pilots and fighters and none of that would change regardless of his species. On top of that he’s fiercely loyal and protective—shown today in the way he not only saved your people but had our backs out there as well. So no, you’re not going to be satisfied with his role on our team because his blood is deemed good enough to you. You’re gonna be goddamn grateful you’re lucky enough to have someone like him on your side because he deserves it. And then some.”

Keith wanted to reprimand Lance he really did. Because this entire interaction could’ve been over minutes ago. But now the royal looked like was changing color, and even though he knew next to nothing about the people on the planet he was pretty sure turning a light blue was concerning. And it wasn’t that big a deal. The guy had been ready to let it drop before. So he should really probably be scolding Lance or something.

But right now, his heart was going at rate that was much too high considering he was just standing there, mouth gaping.

And it’s not like it was the first time Lance had stuck up for him. Everyone on the team had at one point or another, and while he’d prefer they hadn’t needed to at all, Keith was still touched when they did.

But this was different. Usually all that was needed was a sharp retort, a reminder of who they were, and a cold glare. He’d never heard Lance defend him that extensively. And even though he’d never been unsure about his place on the team ( _well_ , not counting the initial reaction where he was sure Allura was going to throw him out the airlock), it was different hearing Lance talk about him out loud.

And really, how necessary was that talk. They both knew how they felt about each other. And right about now he was really feeling like relying on actions.

“Ugh, what an asshole,” Lance said, turning to face Keith once the Batalhan made his way around the corner and entirely oblivious to Keith’s racing pulse. “You save his life and the first thing he brings up is—”

Keith briefly caught Lance’s bulging eyes as he grabbed the collar of Lance’s suit and began pulling him down, but by the time their lips had met his own eyes were closed. Lance was still for an entire second before his hand were tangling in Keith’s hair and kissing back with a passion that had Keith’s knees nearly buckling.

Keith had imagined his first kiss with Lance a lot. Like a lot a lot. As in he probably had a scenario for any possibility that would catalyst his first kiss with Lance. But _god_ this was something else.

Pushing at him, he pressed at Lance until his back hit the wall. Lance broke away from him for a bit, their eyes finally meeting. Lance’s face was flushed and eye blown, and Keith would bet that he didn’t look much better. They stayed look at each other for about 5 seconds before they were coming together again.

Keith felt himself practically melt into Lance as his hands dropped from his hair and he wrapped arms around Keith’s waist, pulling them impossibly closer. He nipped at Lance’s bottom lip, and flushed at the noise Lance made before deepening the kiss further. It was only when he was starting to feel light headed that he pulled away slowly, letting Lance rest his head on his forehead.

“Hey,” Lance said breathlessly, smile blinding as rubbed his thump gently against Keith’s side. He wanted to make fun of him for it, but he knew he wasn’t in a much better state.

“Hey to you too,” Keith laughed, too ridiculously happy to care that they were in the middle of a royal hall while intense negotiations were going down not too far from them. It was a lot, the kiss admittedly coming out of nowhere, but this was a lot of good. And for once it didn’t feel too much and overwhelming. It felt like settled and comfortable and warm in a way that Keith had never felt.

“So, like, just so you know,” Lance continued, rambling voice settling in causing Keith to sigh. Yes, he found it endearing but right now he’d rather get back to other things. “I totally didn’t say all that just because I thought’s it’d get me a kiss—”

“Yes, Lance I know.”

“And there are tons of other things I like about you, like I’ve practiced going over all of them a few times before—”

“Me too, and I haven’t even started.

“And like kissing you has added at least a dozen more things, but honestly like way more than that—”

“You know if you shut up for a bit, you can totally keep adding to that impressive sounding list.”

That got Lance to finally stop talking. For at least 5 seconds.

“Aw, babe, you miss me already?”

“Oh my _god._ ”

Keith was going to have to do all the work here.

Lifting himself up a bit on his toes, he slanted his mouth against Lance’s happily swallowing down the laugh that was bubbling from Lance and heating up when it turned into a moan. Hands at his hips, Lance let a few final thoughts out against Keith’s lips.

“We should probably talk about this a little more.”

“Definitely need to talk about this more.”

“Later?”

“Much later.”

_-_

_“I hope that you see right through my walls_ _  
I hope that you catch me, 'cause I'm already falling”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> zamn there it is
> 
> i'm working on another story that i'm really excited to share with you all! i won't post it till this story is done and ill give you more details l8r
> 
> liek always, thanks to everyone for the comments and kudos! they give me writing life!!!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I mean if it saves me from hearing Lance vent about Keith to me all the time, then it works for me.”
> 
> Keith grinned up at Lance, who was diligently avoiding eye contact.
> 
> “Yeah, same goes for Keith’s dopey stares and all around angstiness.”
> 
> And now he was glaring at Shiro.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHHH LAST CHAPTER,
> 
> this took me a while to right, even tho the opening to it is the first thing i wrote whoops 
> 
> BUT i hope you all like and and like the story as a whole

Keith did not think Lance's arms were anything to get excited about. Or his shoulders. Or any general part of him. Just everything about him was unexciting as a whole. 

Obviously.

So no, he did not wish that Lance would put his arm around Keith’s shoulders. Like right then. As soon as possible. Who cares.

Except Keith kinda did, because Lance was right there—and it was movie night, so it should be totally acceptable, right?

Movie nights on the castle were…something.

It had started with Altean movies, which coming from a society that had children battling gladiator drones, should’ve caused the team to be more apprehensive. And even though there was a language barrier and they were significantly more violent than Earth movies—no matter the genre—they were something for them all to bond over.

And then they had started picking up movies from other planets.

It had started with Hunk and another space mall. He had found what looked like a movie on some creature that vaguely resembled a dog, and even though he couldn’t read what is was about, he’d decided dog movies were much better than constant violent, bloody movies. He’d brought it back to Pidge, and asked if they thought together they could come up with a way to back it compatible with the Altean movie player on the ship.

Pidge had only smiled.

From there they had gotten into the habit of picking up different planets’ versions of movies—even though the one Hunk had found seemed to be about how the space dogs violently took over an alien planet—and making time out of the week to watch them together.

Which is what they were doing now.

The movie they were currently watching seemed to be a drama due to the continuous melancholic music, but from the story itself seemed to just be about a creature that was a cross between a bird and a frog flying around various landscapes.

Keith’s favorite part of these movie nights, however, wasn’t trying to make sense of the plot through the language and culture barrier. It was Lance whispering his own interpretations of the movie in his ear.

“So even though there have been literally no other characters in this movie at all,” Lance said, concluding his second theory of the night. “I think bird-frog isn’t actually alone. His entire life is being watched a controlled by spectators that profit off people who enjoy viewing the little guy’s life.”

“You’re full of shit,” Keith replied, not bothering to hide his grin.

“What, why?”

“You stole that from the one movie!”

“That one movie?”

“You know the one! With the guy from The Mask, and his whole life is a TV show?”

“Nope, not reading any bells.”

“Oh my god, Lance I see your stupid shit-eating grin, I know you know what I’m talking about.”

“If you can’t give me a title, I’m afraid I know nothing.”

“Yeah, I could’ve already told you that, you knowing nothing is like your trademark.”

“Excuse me, I’ll have you know that my trademark is my dazzling personality. It helps balance your trademark scowl and general emo vibe.”

Keith laughed and shoved Lance at that, forgetting momentarily that they weren’t alone. It was like that with Lance a lot now. Or maybe it had always been like that with Lance, and he actually felt secure enough to admit it now.

After what had felt like both a lifetime and not enough time tangled with Lance against the hallway on Batalha, they were eventually forced to remove themselves from each other and make their way back to the ship.

The negotiations had gone well on the planet, so Allura encouraged them all to have some time resting after an emotional past couple of days. Which left Keith and Lance plenty of time and privacy to have a proper talk.

And talk they did.

Honestly it was both the best and worst talk of Keith’s entire life. It was the best because it consisted a lot of talking about the things he liked about Lance—which though mildly embarrassing, did reward him with a wonderfully flushed Lance. They had gotten everything off their chest, all their hopes and likes and frustrations with each other. And it had felt so good to have that out in the open, nothing left unsaid and feelings sure.

It was the worst for two main reasons. First, Lance had been hiding his feelings for Keith since they’d been back at the Garrison, which was a travesty. Because while Keith wouldn’t lie and say that he’d felt the same for as long, that meant they could’ve been together months ago when Keith _had_ fully developed his feelings for Lance.

It was also the worst because Keith had felt like blurting out those stupid three words the whole time, but he knew that was the stupidest thing he could do. Like yeah, Lance was all for being as open with his feelings as possible, but that was easy for him to believe. He wasn’t the one on the edge of blurting out he was in love with someone after they’d just shared their first kiss.

(And second. And third. And maybe even 100th, Keith hadn’t been able to continue counting past the third.)

Like they had even decided to keep it on the down low for a short time, just so they could get comfortable with the new dynamic first.

Not that it’d taken them long, especially in private. It was the pretending everything was normal in front of their teammates part that was a little more trick, and they didn’t need Keith’s love confessions to make that even more difficult.

“Shhh Lance, stop making Keith laugh—I’m trying to watch,” Pidge whispered from their spot on the floor. It’s like the team knew when they were being thought about.

“Like you can even understand what’s going on,” he replied, leaning down to talk into to their ear. Keith slumped in his seat, annoyed Lance moved because so long as he was leaned over like that, Keith wasn’t going to get any arm over shoulder action.

He heard a sharp cough to his left, and he looked to see Allura giving him a knowing look.

God, how could she read him so easily. Was he scowling at Lance’s back? Shit, he was scowling at Lance’s back. Trying to school his face into one of detached interest, he tried subtly leaning more against the arm of the couch and not so much against Lance.

And it wasn’t that they were trying to hide from the team exactly. Each member of the team, Allura and Coran included, had come up to one of them at some point or another to give advice, tease, or encourage them to pursue the relationship. So, it wasn’t that they’d wouldn’t approve.

But they liked being in this stage of the relationship of the two of them exchanging knowing looks and holding hands under tables.

Plus, and he loved them, but this team was the nosiest group of people he’d ever met in his life. And he was sure that once they announced their new relationship status that they’d be constantly hovering whenever the two were together.

So yeah, privacy and subtlety were nice and had been nice these past couple of days.

But at Keith’s slight shift away, Lance seemed to disagree. He almost immediately sat back up, and made up for the minuscule space between them by leaning against Keith.

“You good babe?” he asked, using Allura and Coran getting up and offering everyone snack refills as a distraction to talk to him. This also stopped Keith from hitting him for that pet name, because it would have drawn attention back to them. Sneaky bastard.

“Just fine,” he mumbled, but sighed at Lance’s furrowed brows. “It’s really not that big a deal. You’re just…less touchy than usual.”

“Well I mean yeah,” Lance whispered, confused. “Thought we were keeping this under wraps for a while?”

“We are,” dragged out Keith. “But I mean, you’re even less touchy than you were before we started dating.

And he wasn’t wrong. Lance had been much touchier with Keith at past movie nights. Not necessarily resting his arm around his shoulder touchier, but messing with his hands and hair or letting Keith rest his head on his shoulder.

(Wow, how had they been so oblivious for so long?)

But this movie night, it was like he’d been trying to avoid touching Keith at all costs. And he got it, it was their first movie night with the team as a couple, but that didn’t mean sit as still and straight—ha—as possible. Right then was the most he’d touched Keith the entire night, and he was just leaning on him.

Maybe that was why he wanted Lance to pull a cheesy yawn and stretch on him.

Lance seemed to agree though, because he grabbed Keith’s hand with his own. Which was undeniably sweet, but more of a hindrance to Keith’s ultimate goal than a help. So, he gently pulled his hand out of Lance’s, but immediately dropped his head on his shoulder so he wouldn’t get the wrong idea. Lance in turn rested his head on Keith’s and relaxed his body.

Which was fine. It was good. But Keith was nothing if not determined.

And it’s not like the team would say anything if they didn’t make a deal out of it. Maybe send a few pointed looks over, but as long as they kept their cool they’d probably assume it to just them being friendly.

Resolved, he tried to gently to nudge at Lance arm with his shoulder, but he just looked down at Keith confused.

“Babe,” and would he stop, someone was going to overhear him. “Could you stop jabbing my arm? I’m gonna have to move it if you keep squirming.”

That was the whole point though!

Frustrated Keith grabbed Lance’s wrist, and wrapped the idiot’s arm around his shoulder himself. Settling into Lance’s side, he missed the fact that Lance was blushing because he was too busy hiding his own reddening face.

What he didn’t miss was Shiro’s raised eyebrows, Pidge’s smirk, and Hunk biting his lips.

“Oh, how sweet!”

And now Allura and Coran were back.

Even better.

“So, does this mean it’s official,” Pidge asked. “Or are you both still under the impression that your relationship was ‘platonic’?”

“There’s a movie playing,” Lance tried, voice cracking a bit.

“Like you can even understand what’s going on,” Pidge mocked, and damn it Lance, learn not to antagonize Pidge. It’ll always bite you in the ass.

“I mean if it saves me from hearing Lance vent about Keith to me all the time, then it works for me.”

Keith grinned up at Lance, who was diligently avoiding eye contact.

“Yeah, same goes for Keith’s dopey stares and all around angstiness.”

And now he was glaring at Shiro, the betrayer.

“Well, tough for you,” Lance sniffed at Hunk, though he did seem less embarrassed after Shiro’s comment. “Because I’m not going to stop talking to you about Keith. In fact it’s probably going to be even grosser now.”

“Dude!”

“Lance!”

“I meant emotionally gross!” He clarified, looking between Keith and Hunk and steadily avoiding Shiro’s eyes. “Like sappy and shit! All in love with him and everything.”

“You’re in love with me?”

Shit shit shit.

Should not have said that out loud, he should not have said that out loud.

Lance probably hadn’t even noticed he’d said, he had just been panicking after all. But now it was tense, and Lance’s mouth wasn’t closing, and congrats Keith—managed to mess it up in 5 days. New record.

“Welp, that was a good movie definitely a top 10. Pidge, why don’t you and I discuss the merits and flaws of each scene all the way in the hanger.”

With that Pidge was basically dragged from the lounge room, whispering in Hunks ear and laughing uncontrollably.

The movie wasn’t even over yet.

“Why Shiro!” Allura said as if she’d just noticed him there. “Don’t you look in need in of a haircut? Come Coran, let’s take him to get refreshed.”

Shiro followed them out, the faint question of “You’re not really cutting my hair, right” lingering in the room.

Not that Keith really noticed much of any of that.

Because Lance was looking at him, mouth opening and closing, and Keith’s heart was racing. Wasn’t this part supposed to be over already? They’d talked about their feelings, gone through the embarrassment of recounting how they’d realized what they felt about each other. Shouldn’t the hard part be over?

And it’s not like it would be the end of the world if Lance laughed it off. In fact, that’s most likely what he was trying to do, just without offending Keith. No, Keith hadn’t told him he loved him yet, but they’d been officially together for less than a week. He wouldn’t be angry or upset if Lance told him he’d been using the term lightly.

And while it’d be nice if he really did care for him like that, he’d never hold it against him if his feelings were at a very strong like right then.

“They left us alone with the worst movie we’ve watched in months.”

“Yeah.”

And though the answer was short, it wasn’t toneless or robotic. It was a bit breathless and mostly disbelieving, and Keith beamed. They could do this. This wouldn’t be a setback, and they’d work together in their relationship until one day Lance was actually in love with him.

They had time.

“I mean not yeah to what you said but to your question earlier.” Lance continued, eyebrows furrowed as he met Keith’s eyes. “Yeah as in yes, I meant it.”

Screw time.

“Which I get if it’s a lot,” rambled Lance after a pregnant pause, and when would this boy get it through his thick skull that Keith was over the moon for him. “I mean I think I’ve called you my boyfriend like six times, and the team literally just found out, and we had our first kiss like five days ago. Well not like. Exactly five days ago. But-but-I-”

“I’m in love with you too.”

And Lance shut up quicker than Keith had ever seen. He was staring at him, face redder than it’d ever been, and Keith understood why he’d felt the need to ramble before. Because he felt so vulnerable under Lance’s gaze, he’d do about anything to fill the silence.

Like talk apparently.

“Well I mean technically I can’t say too,” Keith started, and god why had he gone for technicalities. “Just because you never exactly said it directly to me. But I do. Love you, I mean. But I mean who wouldn’t? You’re like the best part of my day, hands down, and some days I get to blast Galra trash to my heart’s content and I still love being with you more than that. And I’ve said love three times now so I should probably...”

He trailed off, because Lance was bringing his close a lot closer to Keith’s, and his smile was so big Keith was a little scared his face would get stuck like that.

But what a lovely face to get stuck with.

(God, he was so gone for Lance, he’d turned into such a sap).

“I love you.”

“Huh,” because Lance’s lips were _right there_ and they were much more distracting then they’d been before now that Keith actually knew what they felt like against his own.

Lance chuckled, and pulled back a bit, and Keith bit his lip to protest. He probably had a good reason for doing that.

He reached his hand out and cupped Keith’s cheek, forcing his eyes from Lance’s lips to his eyes.

“You said I never said it directly to you,” Lance explained, and voice so tender Keith thought he would melt. “So, I love you. And now we’ve both said it three times.”

“Say it again?”

And yeah that was pretty cheesy, but honestly it was all Lance’s fault. If he hadn’t said it so fully and ardently, as if he meant it with every part of him, Keith wouldn’t have wanted to hear it again. But hearing Lance’s voice so warm made him feel a sense of belonging that he’d never really felt before. As if Lance really believed that he belonged at Keith’s side, loving him. And Lance spoke the most honestly when he felt strongly about what he was talking about, and that he could speak that honestly about loving Keith?

He’d want to hear and feel that as much as possible.

“I love you,” Lance laughed, pushing his forehead against Keith’s. “I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I’m so in love with you.”

Every I love you brought him closer to Keith’s lips and he swore if Lance didn’t just get _on_ with it.

“I think that makes me six I love you’s ahead,” Lance murmured against his lips, and Keith immediately deepened the kiss, pushing back on Lance until he was laying back on the couch.

“I’m not so great with words, you’ve said so yourself.”

“Alright, I’ll be the word one, and you’ll be the action one.”

“Shut up and put your arms around me.”

-

_“I'll never let a love get so close_ _  
You put your arms around me and I'm home"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AND WE'RE DONE
> 
> OMG
> 
> when i started the ending, i didn't think i'd be so bummed about finishing this, but i kinda am
> 
> thanks thanks thanks to everyone for all the kudos, comments, and everything!  
> you're all amazing and i couldn't have done it without you!

**Author's Note:**

> wooooo so that was that. trust, more of team voltron will appear bc i can't bare not include them, just not much in this first chapter lol
> 
> so expect 6 chapters bc, you know, 5+1. and i'll probably update soon? i mean no school but yes work? so fingers crossed ya'll
> 
> thx for reading, and i'd love comments pls


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